EDITORIAL

The bill that would allow people to carry hidden guns but exempt concealed carry permits from public records laws deserved Gov. Bob Tafts promised veto.

The "compromise amendment" put into H.B. 12 late last week stipulated that only media not the public could access the names of those granted concealed-carry licenses.

House Speaker Larry Householder and others contended that this was similar to existing law that allows only media to request and get the home addresses of police and firefighters. This was not the same, however. For one thing, the police and firefighter provision was enacted on the premise that a list of "personal and familial" information should be shielded from the public (i.e. Social Security numbers and bank account numbers), but that media should have access to home addresses as a journalistic tool in playing a watchdog role.

Uses of media-only exceptions would be a dangerous trend that would continue to erode the general concept of "public records" and would establish a precedent for restricting access according to who's asking and for what purpose.

We agree with the governor's office that public access to concealed-carry records is nothing less than access to the names, date of birth and counties of residence for media and the public.

This would address citizen concerns about safety. Similar to the sexual predator law, by which citizens go to a sheriff's list to see where registered offenders live, citizens ought to be able to go to a list to determine where concealed weapons may be.

Nothing in H.B. 12 as passed provided for media to play a watchdog role in checking on the process used by the sheriff's office. The bill stipulated that records of background checks be destroyed and that only statistics be released regarding licenses granted. For true media access, we need records to determine who is applying for the permit, who is denied, and whose license is revoked.

There must be enough data to enable media to see that the process is being conducted honestly and thoroughly. Other opponents of H.B. 12 also argued that some databases for checking on mental competency could be incomplete, thus increasing chances for errors.

The proposal to keep secret concealed-carry information was bad public policy, and anything other than a veto by Gov. Taft would have been absurd.